


Young Justice: A collection

by graceC



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Batman is a dick, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Robin needs some help, the team just wants to help
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2019-10-04 00:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17294498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/graceC/pseuds/graceC
Summary: The batfamily gets protective when Damian is attacked by a racist.





	1. Chapter 1

“Has anyone seen Robin lately?” M’gann spoke up, lifting her head from Conner’s shoulder. They were having their post-mission hang out, with M’gann and Conner cuddling on the love seat. Artemis and Wally shared the couch and Kaldur sat in the recliner. Artemis saw the look of confusion on their faces, the same one she was sure was on hers. Because no, they hadn’t. Not for a few weeks.   
“I know that Rob said they had a lot on their plate back in Gotham.” Wally offered, but it did nothing to calm the unease rippling throughout the room.   
‘Robin. B 04.’ The team jumped at the robotic voice. Wally was the first one up, he was at the Zeta tub before the others could even rise from the couch.   
“Rob, dude! Where have you been?” Wally shouted playfully as the others finally arrived at the Zeta tube. Robin offered a smile, though something seemed… off about it. He was in civilian clothes, a red hoodie and jeans. The hoodie seemed large on him.   
“Gotham stuff.” He said vaguely, and Artemis, with increasing concern, noted that his voice was colder than usual, and distant, “Arkham breakout.” Wally’s mouth was drawn into a thin line, and Kaldur spoke, slipping easily into the role of leader.  
“Any injuries?” Robin smiled wryly, Artemis nearly winced.   
“Plenty.” Robin replied, his voice held a forced lightness. Kaldur stared deadpan at him. Robin sighed deeply.   
“Nothing to worry about. One cut that needed 25 stitches on my left arm, i dislocated my left wrist but that’s mostly healed. Batman said as long as i don’t put my weight on it, i should be fine.” Robin finally admitted, monotone. Again, he was cold. Even his posture was different, not displaying the friendliness Artemis had become used to. Kaldur’s brow creased,   
“You will not be training with us tomorrow then.” Even beneath the dark sunglasses, Artemis could see Robin’s eyes become stormy.   
“I’m fine.” This time, Artemis did wince at his tone. It left no room for discussion, it sounded eerily like Batman's.   
“Rob, dude, if you’re hurt-” Wally started, but Robin cut him off with a glare,   
“I’ve been training for days, Wally. I’m fine.” A smirk crossed Robin’s face, a meer imitation of what the real thing. “But, if you need me to prove it. I’d be happy to kick your ass.” Wally gaped at him, and pulled a few chuckles from the rest of the team, and placed an offended hand to his chest.   
“You wish.” Wally replied, sticking his tongue out at Robin. Robin laughed.   
“Mature.” And so they bantered, back and forth all the way to the couch. The rest of the team followed, amused looks being exchanged, but Artemis still couldn’t forget how different Robin seemed. 

They didn’t see Robin again until the next day at 3; training time. He was in his full Robin gear, and he ignored the astonished look Kaldur gave him. Kaldur didn’t really think Robin was going to ignore his order.   
“I’ll go first.” Robin volunteered, a cocky smirk on his face as he stood on one side of the training mat.   
“Robin. I insist that you don’t train until you are fully healed.” Kaldur said, his voice stern, but Robin just lazily turned his head to Kaldur,   
“You gonna stop me, fish boy?’ The team was taken back at the challenge in Robin's eyes and voice. Kaldur opened his mouth to argue, but Artemis quickly interrupted.   
“I’ll go!” Robin’s head snapped to her, the smirk back on his lips.   
“Alright, Arty, let’s go.” Artemis glared at Robin, and charged at him, going for a easy put down punch to the head, but Robin ducked easily and danced out of her reach.   
“You’re gonna have to try harder than that, Blondie.” Robin taunted. Kaldur exchanged concerned glances with Wally at Robin behavior. He had never acted like this before.  
Artemis struck out with her leg, feigning left, but going right with a lunge. Robin caught her leg, which caused shocked murmurs to flow throughout the team. Robin kicked his leg out at the one that kept Artemis standing, and kept his firm grip on her leg as she went crashing to the floor. Artemis gasped as her head made contact with the mat. Robin didn’t let up, as he usually would, to make sure she was alright. Instead he used the leg he still had a hold of, and pulled her up off the mat a few inches, enough for him to reach out and grab her hair. He yanked her hair back, ignoring her yelp and Wally’s concerned, “Robin!” Robin wrapped his forearm around Artemis’ exposed throat and pulled her back into him, locking her into place. He didn’t budge as she gasped desperately for breath and clawed at his arm, and then blindly at his face.   
“Robin!” Kaldur yelled, “That’s enough!” Robin rolled his eyes, and he caught Artemis’ wrist as she went for his face again, he let go of her neck, and she gasped for air, breathing in greedily. But Robin then used her wrist to flip her onto her back, he pressed his knee to her chest.   
“I win.” He whispered, and then stood up. Artemis stared at him in pure, unadulterated fear, while the rest of the team looked on in shock. And then Wally was by Artemis’ side in a blur, he lifted her up, a hand on her back, comforting her as she continued to gasp for air; she had a hand on her throat, holding the same place Robin had a few moments ago.   
“What the hell, Robin!?” Wally shouted, glaring at the younger boy. Robin just shrugged.   
“Sparing, Wally.” Robin didn’t let Wally respond before he turned back to where the team stood, “Conner, at least you’ll give me a challenge.”   
Conner just stood there for a beat, before the anger in his eyes returned and he marched to the mat. Robin smirked, as Conner immediately charged for him. Robin waiting until the last second, before leaping up, and grabbing onto the hanging light, he tugged once and the light fell with him as he landed on Conner’s shoulder and let the light crash onto his head. Conner stumbled, but stayed upright and grabbed one of Robin’s legs, and threw him. Robin roated mid air and landed in a crouch.   
This time Robin went on the offensive, he reached into his utility belt and pulled out his grapple. He aimed and let it pull him at an alarming speed toward Conner. Robin put his right leg out in front of him. His boot landed in Conner’s face with a sickening crunch. This time, Conner went down. Robin let go of the grapple and flipped backwards, he landed on Conner’s chest, knee pressed harshly against his chest, same as with Artemis.   
“What?-” Conner gasped out. It shouldn’t be possible. It wasn’t possible for Robin to put him down that easy. Robin smiled down at him mockingly, and stood. And then, out of his belt, Robin pulled a small container of Kryptonite.   
“Got to be prepared for anything.”   
Kaldur reached the pair of them, and roughly pulled Robin off the mat. Robin stumbled slightly, but righted himself easily. He yanked his arm out of Kaldur’s grip, and glared at him.   
“Your behavior today has been unacceptable, and i will be informing Batman immediately.” Kaldur scolded. “You are dismissed.” Robin glared at him again, and stalked out of the room.  
Conner felt something wet and sticky drip down his face as M’gann approached him worriedly,   
“Conner! You’re bleeding!” 

Kaldur stood in front of the main control console, the rest of the team, minus Robin, stood behind him. In front of him, was Batman, in holographic form at least.   
“I was afraid this might happen.” He sighed. The team looked at him confusedly. Artemis’ hand stayed near the dark purple bruise around her neck, and Wally stood just behind her. Conner’s nose was crooked and held into place with white tape, with M’gann by his side.   
“What do you mean?” Wally asked, his voice unnaturally serious.   
“Robin was severely injured a few weeks ago by the Joker,” Stunned silence enveloped the team, “I scolded him. I said some things i regret, and i’m afraid some of the things i said, he took to heart.”  
“Like what?” Artemis asked, her voice hoarse.   
“He was careless, softhearted, inefficient and a mediocre fighter, among other things.” Batman replied stonly. Wally gaped at him,   
“Well no wonder he’s acting out!” Wally exclaimed, which caused the team to turn to him, “You, the one person whose opinion he cares about, crushed his self esteem! And now he feels the need to prove you wrong!”   
“Robin should know how to-” This time, to the shock of the team, it was Artemis who interrupted.   
“No,” She met Batman’s eyes, “Don’t you dare blame him for this.” And then she took a few steps forward, and ended the call. They were all silent for a minute.   
“I think we need to go speak to Robin.”


	2. Jason Todd

It had been roughly six years since it had happened. Dick moved to Bludhaven and never really came back. Bruce threw himself headfirst into whatever work he could find; Batman, Wayne Industries, Charity, whatever he could find to keep him busy.  
Bruce sat in the cave, typing a report about the recently escaped and found Scarecrow, when the swooshing of a cape and the footsteps echoed throughout the cave.  
“One minute.” Bruce’s muffled voice came from underneath his cowl. He continued to type and didn’t turn to face the rest of the Justice League, who were standing awkwardly in the middle of the cave, waiting for the meeting to start.  
“This is depressing.” Barry comments causally, staring at the glass case that held the battered and beaten Robin suit, he failed to notice when Bruce stopped breathing.  
Bruce’s fingers stopped moving, his ears were ringing and he couldn’t hear anything. His heartbeat sped up and he suddenly couldn’t breathe anymore.  
“Lets. Get. Started.” Bruce’s words came out harsh, cold and through gritted teeth.  
↠↠↠↠↠  
Bruce stood, in his long coat and turtleneck, in the freezing weather of the unforgiving Gotham winter. He stared unblinking at the grey stone. Alfred always made sure it had flowers, today they were roses. Beautiful, deadly and die too young. Just like him.  
If he had just been faster.  
↠↠↠↠↠  
Bruce sat in his office at Wayne Industries. He liked spending time here, it reminded him of his father, and people wouldn’t bother him here, leaving him alone to his thoughts. His blue eyes flitted across his desk, inadvertently landing on the only picture on his desk.  
Dick sat on the living room couch, a cheeto bag in his hands, his head thrown back in laughter. He couldn’t have been older than 18 at the time.  
He sat across from Dick, his feet thrown carelessly in Dick’s lap, he was also laughing.  
Bruce’s eyes stung, they went glossy, but Bruce blinked the tears back harshly. He slammed the picture down on its face. He stood up, grabbed his coat and practically ran out of his office, down the stairs and to his car.  
He should have been fast enough  
↠↠↠↠↠  
Bruce, dressed in the cowl, was training relentlessly in his VR program, when a sharp intake of breath is heard across the cave,  
“What the fuck?” Bruce powered down the program and made his way over to the sound, his posture was defensive. He wasn’t prepared for the blue eyed, raven haired 24 year old standing in front of the glass case. Dick rounded on Bruce, his eyes fiery and cold,  
“Bruce,” Dick’s voice matched his eyes “Please tell me that’s not what I think it is.”  
Bruce didn’t say a word, his eyes remained trained on Dick’s forehead. Dick let out a scoff of disbelief,  
“Bruce! Please tell me that’s not his costume!” Dick’s voice had lost it’s menace and was now begging,  
“I can’t do that.”  
“Why?” It was a vague question, but Bruce caught the meaning easily, he finally met Dick’s eyes.  
“It is a reminder. A reminder that I failed him. That I wasn’t fast enough, and that it’s my fault that he’s dead.” Bruce said simply, as if telling Dick the sky was blue.  
“He has a name you know. You can use it.” Dick’s voice was soft and comforting. Bruce nodded,  
“I don’t deserve to use it.”  
“Who’s the kid?” Both men whirled around, automatically going into defense mode, before relaxing when they saw it was just Oliver, with the Justice League.  
“This is my son.” Bruce introduced, he turned to face the glass case. He pressed a hand to it, closing his eyes momentarily. Everyone saw it, but only Oliver made a comment.  
“Alright I’ll bite. What’s with the suit?”  
“It was my brothers.” Dick replies, his voice still quiet as he stared at the Robin costume.  
The league stayed silent as the pieces of the puzzle all clicked together. Bruce turned away, not wanting to face the sympathy and pity he knew was on their face’s, but he continued Dick’s statment,  
“His name was-” Bruce was cut off by another, echoing throughout the cave ominously,  
“Jason Todd, at your service.”


	3. Broken

Not many people on the team knew Dick had a temper. In fact, it was limited to Roy, Barbara and Tim. The only people who saw him outside of the team. Dick fought long and hard to keep his temper to himself when with them. But there were instances when even the golden boy couldn’t keep everything inside. 

Everyone knew something was wrong. Dick wasn’t smiling, laughing or even speaking. He was quiet and stoic, too much like Batman for anyone to be comfortable with. They had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with the fact no one had heard from the newest Robin in weeks.   
Dick stood in the center of the training mat, in front of the punching bag. Gar and Megan stood silently off to the side, trying not to alert Dick to their presence.   
Dick’s fist connected with the punching bag, and the hit echoes throughout the room, and then he did it again, but harder this time. Then again, and again, and again, and again.  
He punched again, and a crack thundered as the punching bag was detached from the ceiling and fell to the floor. Dick stood over the spilling sand panting, his hands hung limply at his sides, blood dripping from his knuckles and onto the floor.  
“Dick.” Megan called out hesitantly, taking a step forwards. Dick eyes snapped up to meet hers, and she nearly stumbled at the pure rage coming off of him in waves.   
“What are you doing here?” He asked, his voice deathly calm. A stark comparison to his fiery eyes.   
“Are you okay?” Gar questioned, interrupting whatever Megan was going to say. Dick eyes fell onto Gar’s and he took a step back. It was then that Dick seemed to realize something, and a mask fell over his face. Cold, calm.   
“Yeah.” Was his reply, he stretched his fingers, “I got to go.”   
Gar and Megan didn’t say anything as Dick walked from the room. 

The team was getting lectured by Black Canary. They had screwed up, and a building ended up blowing up; luckily no one was inside at the time.   
“You were all incredibly reckless.” Black Canary said strictly, “There were awful miscalculations and people could have died.”   
No one had said a word since some of the leaguers had arrived via zeta tube, but Dick was a different kind of quiet.   
“And these calculations were made by your leader.” Canary said, her eyes falling on Dick’s still form. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”   
“No.” Dick’s cold tone seemed to surprise Canary, because for a moment, she just blinked at him.   
“You could have gotten hundreds of people killed.” Diana interrupted, her tone stern.   
Dick chuckled darkly, and ran his tongue over his lower lip, his head tilted slightly to the right.   
“And how many people have you killed?” Dick questioned, crossing his arms. Diana glared at him and began to speak, but Dick silenced her with a raised hand. “No, it’s okay. I get it. It’s only when anyone else kills people that you have something to say.”   
“Dick!” Conner exclaimed, looking at his friend in shock.   
“No.” Was all Dick said to Conner before rounding on Diana again, “Tell me, how is the view from the moral high ground?”   
Diana gaped at him, as did all the leaguers that were present. Black Canary, Wonder Women, Flash, and Red Tornado.   
“You have no right-” Diana started, but Dick cut her off by turning and walking away. Towards the Zeta Tube. “Nighwing! We’re not done here!”   
“If i stay here,” There was that deathly calm voice again that sent the team back a few steps, “I’m going to do something i’ll regret later.” And then he was gone. 

They could all see it, the control Dick coveted was slipping with every passing day.   
“All right, I’ll bite.” Gar finally said something, “What the hell is wrong with you?”   
Dick froze, his body tensed, and his eyes darkened. He ran his tongue over his bottom lip, and his head tilted slightly.   
Megan stepped closer to Gar, but Dick didn’t seem to notice.   
“What’s wrong?” Dick echoed, and then he slammed his hands against the desk, making everyone jump.   
What’s wrong?!” He screamed, his hands digging into the table, and pulling upwards. The table crashed to the ground with a bang.   
Megan’s eyes began to glow as she attempted to calm Dick down. She knew she wasn’t supposed to do that, but she figured that this qualified as a exception.   
But Dick saw, and threw one of his escrima stick with deadly precision at her face. Bart barley made it in time to stop the collision.   
“Dick! What the hell man?!” Bart cried out, dropping the escrima stick to the ground. Dick’s eyes landed on him, and Bart gulped at the rage simmering behind the clear blue.   
“Don’t.” He rasped out, his breathing heavy as he looked back at Megan, “Don’t you dare ever fuck with my head again.”   
Dick didn’t wait for a reply before storming out of the room.   
“Whoa.” Bart breathed out.   
“Something’s wrong.” Conner said. 

Screaming woke them up, and one by one they stirred from sleep and wandered into the hallway.   
“What is that?” Artemis asked, rubbing her eyes groggily.   
“I don’t know.” Megan stated, “Let’s go find out.”   
What they found, was not what they were expecting. Batman and Dick were standing across the room from each other, engaging in what appeared to be a screaming match.   
“Dick!” Batman yelled, “Calm down! You’re being irrational!”   
Dick laughed sarcastically, launching a book at Batman’s face, which he easily doged.  
“I’m being irrational!?” Dick bellowed, and his tone made even the Batman hesitate, “You did this!” Dick began pacing closer and closer to the Bat.   
“You did this.” He was quieter this time, but his voice still held the rage, and pain. “What happened, happened because of you.”   
“You know that’s not true.”   
“Get out.” Batman froze, before glaring at Dick.   
“What?”  
“I said,” Dick breathed, “Get the fuck out.”   
“You don’t have the authority-”  
“FUCK AUTHORITY!” Dick screamed, now only a few feet away from batman, “GET OUT!”   
“We need to discuss this.” It seemed not even the Batman himself expected Dick to throw a punch, because he was surprised when Dick’s fist connected with his jaw.   
“Get. Out.” Dick growled, getting in Batman’s face. The team collectively held their breath. Dick just punched Batman in the face. Dick lowered his face to the Bat’s ear,   
“I will kill you.” The team didn’t hear what he said, but the Batman recoiled, and seemed to believe him, because before they realized what was happening, Batman was gone.   
Dick fell to his knees, and screamed.   
“Dick?” Artemis muttered, taking a small step towards the man. He barely looked up at her, but he made no move top- well, move. So, she took a step closer, and kneeled next to him. Artemis- slowly, so Dick could pull away if he wanted too- placed a hand on his shoulder.   
A sob racked his body, and the rest of the team came closer, hoping to offer silent comfort.   
“Dick, what happened?” Artemis asked softly, watching Dick break down with concern.   
“He’s dead.” Dick sobbed, and they all froze. And then they understood, “I promised I would protect him and i was too late.” Artemis pulled Dick into her arms, running a hand through his hair.   
“Oh, Dick.”   
“It’s all my fault.” And no one knew what to say.


	4. While one robin rises, another falls

Everything was perfect, which honestly should have been the first warning to the family that something bad was about to happen. Damian was alive again, Jason was on fairly good terms with the rest of the family, Stephanie and Tim were happy, and then The Colony happened. Kate was crushed, her father was a psychopath after nothing more than an army of Batmen. But Tim, he was the one that really suffered from it.

Red Robin stood in the red, green and yellow, staring at the practically leveled city. He knew what he had to do.

“Bruce.” Tim stated into his coms, Bruce squeezed his eyes shut, “‘Don’t say it.” Tim smiled sadly and looked up,

“Tell them I’m sorry. Tell them how much they meant to me. Dick, Jason, Damian, Alfred…… All of them.” Tim swallowed thickly and blinked away his tears before continuing, “Thank you for everything Bruce. Robin out.” His voice cracked slightly as he cut off communication with his mentor.

“TIM!” Bruce screamed out, pushing himself to the max to get to his son, but deep down he already knew. Tim was gone. Bruce stopped all efforts of moving, talking, breathing. He let the tears roll freely down his face as he thought of having to go back to the cave and deliver the news of Tim’s death to the rest of the family; to his brothers.

Bruce took his time making his way back to the cave, mourning his third son freely before putting up the emotionless mask everyone was used to seeing. He walked into the control area, his cowl already discarded and he sat down on a bench, placing his head in his hands.

“Bruce.” Jason’s tight and guarded voice came from his left, “Where is Tim?” Bruce didn’t respond, but lifted his face out of his hands to stare at the floor.

“When I lost you,” Bruce started, finally bringing his gaze up to the rest of the family, “I made a promise to myself, that I wouldn’t lose another one.” Bruce chuckled humorlessly. “But not only did I lose one, I lost two more.” Alfred froze all movements, already knowing what the Bat was talking about.

“Bruce? What are you saying?” Steph asked, her voice pleading for him to tell her she was wrong, that Tim wasn’t dead. Bruce closed his eyes in an attempt to hide his tears, but they leaked out anyway.

“No.No.No. No. No.” Steph murmured, stumbling backwards. She finally hit a wall and collapsed to the floor, broken sobs leaving her mouth. Damian stared at his father in shock,

“Father, is Drake–” Damian’s voice broke and wobbled, much to the surprise of the rest of the family, “Is Drake dead?”

“Yes.” The answer was so quiet the family almost didn’t hear it. Cass placed a comforting hand on Dick’s shoulder while her own face showed sadness. Jason’s face went from shock, to grief, to anger, before he stormed out of the cave. Dick just stared ahead, his mind went numb, his body stiff. He lost another baby brother, a brother he promised to protect. Alfred swallowed thickly before quietly making his way out of the cave, not even sparing a glance towards Stephanie as she cradled the RR patch Tim had given her, while sobs racked her body. Cass made her way over to the girl in purple, sat down and brought Steph into her arm; and Cassandra held her for hours while she cried over her lost love.

It had been a week since Tim died, and Jason still hasn’t returned to Gotham. Both Damian and Bruce threw themselves into their nightly activities. Dick went about his daily life numbly, and fought viciously at night, so much unlike himself that Wally showed up at his apartment. Stephanie turned to crime, and Cass made it her personal mission to bring Steph home. Barbra, much like Bruce, Damian and Dick, had barley taken off the batgirl suit since his death, and when she wasn’t out fighting crime, she was in the cave, sitting in front of Tim’s costume surrounded by glass. Alfred hasn’t been seen in days, but he was in Tim’s room most of the time, just sitting on the young man’s bed, staring at his untouched room for hours on end.

The other heros offered their condolences to the bats, and then agreed to give them as much time as they needed.

Jason sat on the ground in front of the gravestone they had for Tim.

Timothy Drake- Wayne. 1999-2016. It’s not how many years you got, it’s how you use them. Loving brother, son and friend. RIP.

Jason blinked rapidly, expelling his tears. Tim deserves more than this, he deserves justice. And Jason intended to get it, for Tim.

It took a while, but Jason finally broke. He was on a mission with the family, begrudgingly of course. When Bruce found one of Tim’s safehouses, and a recording of Tim’s voice.

“If you’re hearing this, I’m dead.” Jason’s entire body grew stiff, his mind blacking out the rest of the audio. He knew. Tim had prepared himself for death, and that thought alone could have easily broken Jason, but now, with Tim’s voice. He crumbled. Jason didn’t even realize he had taken off the hood, but he noticed when it fell from his hands and alerted Bruce and Dick, who were standing next to him.

Jason let out a broken, strangled scream and fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face at a fast pace. His mind went to the darkest places, cracking the man even more.

Tim knew that he would die eventually. He knew that he would die in that goddamn costume. That meant it didn’t surprise him, when he died. He saw it death coming and he welcomed her with open arms.

“Jason! Jason! JASON!” Dick yelled, while shaking his shoulder, but Dick could tell it wasn’t even registering with Jason.

“Is this how you felt when I died?” Jason finally asked quietly, and Dick felt his heart break for Jason, he was the closest to Tim,

“God, I’m so sorry I put you through that.” Jason sobbed out. “I just want him back.” Jason collapsed into Dick’s arms as Bruce sat near the pair, offering his silent comfort.

“Me too, Jaybird. Me too.” Dick murmerd to his brother with shushing him. Bruce placed a hand on both Dick and Jason as tears fell from all three men.

Meanwhile………….

Stephanie easily stepped over the unconscious body of the three guards, and made her way into the bank vault. She shoved over 200k into a bag before Cassandra showed up, watching the blonde silently.

“We all miss him you know.” Cassie spoke up, making Steph jump slightly, before setting the bag down and gripping the wall tightly, still not facing Cass.

“Go away, Cassandra.” Steph spoke, her voice tight and her jaw clenched. Cassie slowly made her way towards steph, and placed a hand on her shoulder. That was all it took, for Stephanie to break, sobs once again racking the girls body as Cassandra held her.

“I want him back, Cass. I can’t do it without him.” Stephanie cried, her hands clutching the RR tightly to her body.

“We all do, sweetheart.” Cass consoled sadly. “We all do.”

Elsewhere in Gotham……………

The last thing Tim remembers is running like hell from his cell, he groaned. He rubbed the back of his head and hesitantly opened his eyes, absolutely terrified of finding himself back in his cell; but when he finally opened them, he saw the bat signal shining bright in the sky and he gasped, making his way towards it. That’s where his family would be.


	5. Brothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The batfamily gets protective when Damian is attacked by a racist.

Damian had just turned 16 and his father insisted on having a party. Damian had just agreed, hopping his father would keep it lowkey, he should have known better.

Damian was just getting a soda from the bar when a reporter, a white man, walked up to him.

“Mr. Wayne.” The man greeted, “I’m Joe Smith, reporter for the Gotham City Gazette.” Damian didn’t even turn to face the man, he just nodded and took a sip of his drink. “What do you have to say about the recent terror attacks on the states from your people?” Damian turned slowly towards the man and glared,

“Excuse me?”

“Well, you are obviously middle eastern, and that is where these heinous crimes are coming from.” Damian glanced over the man’s shoulder to see Tim staring at him. Damian sent him a pleading look, help. The man was getting aggravated with Damian’s lack of reply and seemingly snapped.

“Hey! You listen when a white man is speaking, you understand you pathetic terrorist!” Joe screamed, Damian’s eyes snapped to Joe’s face in shock.

“What the hell did you just say to my little brother?” Tim’s voice came from behind the racist man. Joe’s face drained of color as he turned to look at Tim who, although he wasn’t very tall, appeared to be towering over the man.

“N-nothing.” Joe stuttered, spilling out lies. Damian’s eyes remained wide and full of hurt.

“You see,” Dick spoke up from behind Damian, “I know for a fact you didn’t just lie to us.”

If Damian thought Tim towered over Joe, Dick for sure did. Joe was a short, fat and ugly white man, even Damian was quite a few inches taller that him.

“For your sake, I hope I misheard that racist ass comment about baby brother here.” Jason appeared out of nowhere, gesturing to Damian. Joe seemed to regain some confidence.

“I am entitled to speak my own opinion.” Damian had to suppress a smile when Selina made you way over.

“If, and only if, it does not harm or degrade another citizen.” Selina recited, straight from the constitution.

“Like i’m going to let a women tell me what to do.” Tim laughed out loud, gaining the attention of all present in the fiasco.

“Oh, buddy. You’re so screwed now.”

“I hope you know, Mr. Asshole, that the entire conversation you just had with my son, and my fiance, has been recorded and streamed. Live.” Joe appeared to have stopped breathing when he heard Bruce’s voice. “And i hope you are aware that this has effectively ended your career. Damian, let’s go. You have presents to open.”

As soon as the family made their way around Joe, Damian spoke.

“Thank you.” It was quiet, but he meant it. Tim clapped him on the back and replied loudly,

“You’re our brother, we’ll defend you until death.”

Maybe this wasn’t such a bad birthday after all.


	6. Unexpected visit

Jason Todd wasn’t one to ask for help, and he most definitely wasn’t one to show up at the batcave to do it.

Jason thought this would be an easy job, a drug dealer. But it turns out the guy had guards up to wazoo, leading to Jason being shot, eight times. His Kevlar stopped six of them, they would just leave a bruise, but the other two hit him. One embedded itself into his left side and the other was in his lower stomach. Good news is, he killed all of them, including the dealer, but now he had one hand on his side and the other on his stomach, pushing harshly. He climbed onto his motorcycle, grabbing some presser badges and slapped them on. He started his bike and flinched, damn his side hurt. He thought of places he could go in Gotham, but Roy and Kori were off planet helping Superboy with something, and he didn’t have many other people he trusted. He growled but took a sharp left turn, one that led towards Wayne Manor, but most importantly, the batcave. He pulled up to the entrance of the batcave, set the time on the clock and placed his hand on the scanner.

“Jason Todd confirmed, welcome.” Jason stared at the scanner for a minute, in shock. He could still get into the cave? The throbbing in his side brought him back to reality and he got of his bike and slowly walked in.

“Todd.” Damian greeted in shock, drawing all the attention of the bat family, excluding Bruce who wasn’t in the cave, to Jason.

“Demon spawn.” Jason greeted back, gritting his teeth.

“Not that we’re not happy to see you, but why are you here Jay?” Dick asks, confused as all of them were, Jason hated coming here. Jason gently touched his side, pulling his back and lifted it up, showing them the blood on his hand. Jason’s eyes then rolled backwards as he fell, both physically and into unconsciousness.

Bruce, only seeing his second son fall ran towards him, glad for Jason’s helmet as his head hit the floor. Bruce gently pulled the helmet off of Jason, feeling for a pulse, which he found. He sighed in relief, then picked Jason up and carried him over to their medical table. Dick was by Bruce’s side immediately, pulling Jason’s jacket, shirt and kevlar off.

“He’s been shot twice, once in his left side and once in his lower stomach. Bruce nodded,  
“Tim, go get Alfred.” Bruce said, the shaking in his voice barely detectable. Tim sprints out of the batcave, trying to get to the butler as fast as possible. Bruce put pressure on Jason’s wounds, noticing the discarded pressure bandages lying near Jason’s motorcycle, he was slightly relieved knowing that Jason wasn’t going to bleed out. Well, not right this minute anyway.

Alfred hurries into the room, shooeing Bruce away from Jason and immediately started to pull the bullets out.

30 minutes later, Alfred is done and Jason is awake, sitting up with his head in his hands. Bruce storms in, glaring at Jason.

“Why are you so reckless?–” Jason could tell he was going to say more and interupted,

“Stop. I’m not in the mood for this.” That shocked Bruce into silence, usally Jason would launch himself at any chance to fight with Bruce, but not this time.

“Hey, Jaybird. How you doing?” Dick asks softly, making Jaosn look up, he could see the worry shinning through on his big brother’s face.

“I’ve been better.” Both men could tell Jason was acting different, keeping his answer’s and statement’s short and cold. Dick creased his eyebrows with worry, but didn’t say anything, exiting the batcave with Bruce following close behind him.

When they went down to the cave later, meaning the whole batfam, they were suprised to see Jason still there, they all thought he’d be gone by now. He was lying down on the cot, facing the ceiling, staring at nothing.

“Jay?” Tim asked, Jason did nothing to aknowledge that he even heard Tim other than a slight nod of the head, if they had not been a family of dectectives they might not have even caught it.

“Are you okay?” Damian asked, not meaning to let the emotion shine through in his voice.

“Call Roy for me.” Jason easily delfected the question. Bruce let the worry show on his face momentarily, before nodding to Tim, who quickly made the phone call.

“He’ll be here in 15 minutes.” Jason nodded, contintuing to stare at nothing.

“Jason.” Dick said sternly, making the man in question look up slightly,

“What’s going on?” Dick asks, slighly softer.

“Don’t worry about it.” Jason replied, returning his gaze to the ceiling.

“Well I am worried.” Dick snapped at him, surprising the others a little, he rarley snapped at anyone, escpecially not his injured younger brother. Jason didn’t acknowledge Dick’s outburst, acting as if no one had spoken.

After a few moments of silence, which Jason was very greatfull for, Alfred brought Roy down into the cave. Roy, clad in a leather jacket and black jeans, casually walked over to Jason. He surveyed his shirtless friend, taking in the damage,

“Nice. That’s gonna leave a badass scare.” Roy mused, making Jason roll his eyes, but Roy could see the cornner of his lips twitch up.

“Did you use Kori’s ship to get here?” Jason asked as he slipped a shirt on, grimicaing. Dick flinched subtly at the mention of his ex.

“Yeah, figured it was improtant if I was invited into the imfamous Batcave.” Roy mocked, helping Jason put on his brown leather jacket. Jason snorted, shaking his head.

“Alright, Red. Let’s go.” Jason waved goodbye to his family, grabbing his helmet off the ground,

“I’ll be back for my bike in a couple of days.”

They walked up into the Manor and exited though the front door, climbing into Kori’s camoflodged ship.

“You good Jay?” Roy asked, slippng into the piolit seat. Watching as Jason grabbed one of their healing shots that they had snagged from another Earth, and then shoved it into his stomach.

“I will be in a bit.” Jason answered honestly, slowly sitting down, grimicing at the pain.

“How was hanging out with the fam?”

“Awkward.” Jason answered bluntly, making Roy chuckle.

“When are you going to tell them?” Roy asked seriously after he sobbered up. Jason sighed,

“Soon, I’ll have too. They already know somethings up.” Roy scoffed,

“Yeah, I’ll say.” Jason gave Roy a look and stood up making his way towards the front of the ship. Jason leaned down and kissed Roy gently, pulling away absolutley beaming.

“I don’t think they’ll react that bad to me and you, but when they find out we’re also dating Kori…”


	7. Tim Drake Died

Tim supposes he understands why Jason was the way that he was when he returned to Gotham for the first time. Not as a ally, and certainly not as a Robin, but as an angry, hurt and broken man. It took all of Tim’s willpower to stay in control of his newfound temper. He amends Jason for how control he is now, it’s not easy. Tim now wears blue contacts so no one can see the lazarus pit green that took the originals blue’s place. His family knows that he lost his spleen in the fights against the council of spiders, but they believed that was all that happened. They didn’t know that he had lost his life during the final battle, and that Ra’s dumped him into the lazarus pit afterwards. That was also the same day that Tim took his first life.

Tim shook his head, as if that would help get rid of his thoughts from the past, and re-focused his gaze on the batcomputer in front of him.

“Hey, Tim, if you could hurry up on that information that would be great!” Dick called from the other side of the cave. The sane part of Tim knew that Dick didn’t mean anything by that, but the rage was weakening his grip on his sanity.

If Dick had believed me about Bruce being alive I never would have died.

His grip on the mouse tightened.

“Tim?” Dick yelled again, this time his voice laced in annoyance.

His fault his fault his fault his fault all his fault.

Tim didn’t even know it happened until the shards of the now broken mouse tore open his skin, he glanced down. His hand was covered in blood and plastic shards.

“Tim! What happened?” Dick exclaimed from behind him, Tim didn’t flinch. He turned around in the chair he had been sitting in, got up and started walking away, towards the med bay.

“Tim!” Dick’s voice was stern as he grabbed Tim’s shoulder and forced him to turn around and face him. Tim’s hand shot out and grabbed Dick’s, he jerked his hand to the left, and didn’t stop until he heard a pop. Dick groaned in pain as Tim dropped his hand, and continued his walk to the med bay, only to be stopped again. This time by Damian.

Damian is the reason I got kicked to the curb. He is Dick’s favorite. If Damian had been the one claiming Bruce was alive, Dick would have believed him.

“Apologize to Grayson this instant!” Damian demand, in his bratty tone.

Tim regarded him with disinterested eyes, “Make me.” Tim’s voice was bored, but on the inside the rage was burning him up. And he knew eventually it would burn him alive.

Damian’s surprise showed in his eyes.

His green eyes. Green……

“Do not make me ask again, Drake.”

“No.” Tim knew better than to enrage Damian, he really did. But right now, Tim was itching for a fight to release some of the rage built up inside of him.

When Damian jumped for him, Tim sidestepped and landed a devastating blow to the younger boys back, knocking him to the ground.

“Tim!” Dick’s voice was pure shock, but the exclamation didn’t reach Tim’s ears, and the pain in his right hand faded to where he could no longer feel it.

Damian stumbled to his feet, where he regained his balance, and the fire in his eyes. Damian grabbed his sword from the sheath on his back, and swung it with deadly accuracy at Tim’s left shoulder. Tim supposed Dick was right, Damian was getting better, before he would have swung at Tim’s head. Tim caught the blade, and he gripped it tight, ignoring the blood running from his already injured hand. Tim brought his knee up and made contact with Damain’s chest, brutally. Tim took advantage of Damian’s moment of weakness and ripped the sword from Damian’s grasp, before tossing it behind him.

The rest of the fight was a blur, and the next thing Tim knew, Bruce was in the cave, screaming.

“TIM! NO!”

Tim looked down and saw a batarang pressed tightly against Damian’s neck, a thin trail of blood running from the wound. Tim’s sanity returned, and he dropped the batarang and stumbled backwards, his eyes wide in horror.

That day, Damian needed 20 stitches and Dick was in a cast for 6 weeks. The day after, Bruce suggested Tim take a break, which resulted in the biggest fight the pair had ever had; which was saying something.

“Tim-” Bruce tried for a calming tone, but it was far too late. The rage had taken over. It wasn’t Tim anymore, it wasn’t. It was the pit. He thanked God for his blue contacts right now, he had almost forgotten them today. He knew that his eyes were a chilling, petrifying lazarus green.

“No! No, shut up Bruce.” The words were out of his mouth before he realized he had them, but nothing was left in him to feel bad for the look of shock that flashed on Bruce’s face. A voice inside him laughed, good! “This is not your decision to make, and I swear to God if you even so much as move in the direction of trying to stop me, you won’t like what happens.” Tim’s voice was just short of animalistic, his threat digging deep on Bruce, who was really, truly hurt by his son’s words.

“Son-” Bruce tried once more, but the glare that Tim shot him not only chilled Bruce to the core, it scared him. It didn’t look like Tim in that moment, it was… something else.

“Don’t.” Tim’s voice was deathly calm, and Bruce decided he prefered it when Tim was yelling. “Don’t you dare call me your son. You are not my father.” Another piercing jab.

“Master Timothy!” Alfred’s shrill voice rang throughout the cave. Tim shot Bruce another withering look, before stomping upstairs, and out of the house.

If Tim is being honest, he doesn’t remember anything that happened for the two hours after the fight. All he knows is there is a lot of blood. And a lot of green.

Tim is very happy that it was Jason who found him, sitting cross legged in a large pool of blood, that was not his, surrounded by four bodies. He doesn’t think any of the others would’ve reacted very well. And he had no interest in ending up in arkham.

“What the fuck, Tim!?” Jason yelled, yanking his hood off and tosing it on the ground, away from the blood, before making his way to where Tim sat.

“I don’t know.” Tim’s voice was a whisper, and the thing that scared Jason the most, was that he didn’t sound even remotely guilty, just scared of the unknown.

“Okay.” Jason sounded a lot calmer than he actually was, “Come on, Timbo.”

“Where are we going?” Tim asked as he followed Jason out of the alley way.

“Safehouse.” Jason’s voice sounded robotic, and one glance told Tim it was because he put the hood back on.

They made the rest of the journey in silence. Tim was silent because he didn’t know what to say, but Jason was silent because he was thinking. Chief among those thoughts were, what the hell happened to Tim?

Tim didn’t say a word when they arrived at the safehouse, he quietly stood behind Jason as he passed all of his security. A few minutes later, and a beep, the door swung open and Jason stepped inside. Tim followed him in. As soon as the door closed, Jason turned to face Tim. He threw the hood onto the couch and ran a hand through the hair.

“Spill.” Jason demanded. He watched as Tim opened and closed his mouth multiple times, before finally speaking.

“Where is your bathroom?” He asked quietly. Jason sighed, but motioned to the left. Tim started walking that way, and gestured for Jason to follow.

“Uh, Tim?” Jason questioned suspiciously, but followed Tim anyway, “I don’t know what kinda kinky shit you’re into but-” Tim turned in the doorway of the bathroom to glare at Jason. Tim moved to face the mirror, Jason stayed outside the door.

When Tim turned to Jason once again, his contacts were laying on the countertop and his eyes were practically glowing a chilling green. Jason took a step back, and his eyes widened as he began to put all of the pieces together.

“I died.” Tim stated simply. Jason swallowed harshly, and ran his hand through his hair again. He began pacing, growling at himself.

“No, no! This wasn’t supposed to happen! Not again!” Jason lashed out, his hand swung through the air and sent a lamp crashing to the floor.

“That looked expensive,” Tim muttered.

“Why are you so damn calm!?”

“I’ve had time to adjust.”

Jason whipped around to look at Tim. He practically recoiled when he met green eyes, instead of blue.

“How long?” Jason asked, his voice quieter and forcefully more calm than it had been before.

“Council of Spiders.”

Jason took a deep breath, nodded, and began planning.

Ever since Jason found out, he had done his very best to help Tim hide it. He hung around the cave more, went on more patrols, and offered to go on every mission that required a second person with Tim. Bruce was suspicious, Dick was thrilled and Damian was bored.

“Hey, Replacement.” Jason greeted, Tim didn’t look up from the computer screen, “Okay, nice to see you too. Yeah, I’ve been good, no fatal wounds or anything, thanks for asking.”

“Tim.” Dick called from where he was training with Damian, a frown on his face. “Don’t be rude.”

Jason subtly positioned himself where he could easily and quietly subdo Tim. Tim rolled his eyes, and gave Dick the middle finger. Jason had to stifle his laughter, but Dick just became more concerned.

“Drake, what the hell is your problem recently?’ Damian asked. Tim felt his grip on sanity slip. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and continued typing away.

“Hey, demon brat. Has Mommy asked about me?”

That was all it took for Jason to move the conversation off of Tim, because Damian growled and launched at Jason. Dick barley caught him, and was struggling to restrain him when Jason spoke again.

“Jesus, kid. What are you half dog?”

Tim stood standing on the roof of Wayne Industries, dressed in his Red Robin gear when Dick finally approached him. Just him and Dick.

“Hey, Tim.”

“Code names, Nightwing,” Tim replied coolly. Dick shot him a confused look.

“C’mon, Tim, talk to me. I’m your brother.” And there it went. For weeks Tim struggled to keep control of his rage. Ever since the incident, Jason stuck with him, but Jay could only be there so much.

Tim finally lost control, once more. He whirled around to face Dick, his eyes burning with a rage that shocked Dick to his core.

“Stop. Calling. Me. That.” Tim growled. “I am not your brother.” Dick’s eyes flashed with hurt, and Tim relished in it. He managed to hold himself back for about 5 seconds before he attacked Dick. A flurry of punches and kicks that even the golden boy had trouble blocking, let alone countering. Tim landed a brutal kick to Dick’s jaw, and the man fell to the ground, nearly unconscious. Tim straddled him, a batterrang poised in hand, ready to land the fatal blow.

“Tim.” Dick slurred, “Stop.”

Tim hesitated, and the last thing Dick saw before he drifted out of consciousness was the Red Hood appearing.

Tim should have known. Bruce was being too quiet about him and Jason was hanging out so much. Too quiet about him attacking Damian and Dick. And then Dick again. He should have known better than to think he could keep something from the batman.

It took Bruce the better part of three weeks to figure out what had happened, and confront Tim with the evidence. He made sure it would just be Tim and himself in the cave. All the others were patrolling, and Tim had stayed behind to fill in for Babs because she had a doctors appointment.

“You attacked Dick again.” Bruce’s voice made Tim jump, and turn around to face him. Tim didn’t respond.

“And before that, you attacked Dick and Damian, right here in the cave.” Bruce paused, giving Tim the chance to speak. He didn’t. “Why?”

“I lost control.” Tim wasn’t lying, that was the truth, just not all of it.

“You and Jason have been spending a lot of time together, as well.”

“Jason is my brother.” Bruce glared at Tim, and was met with cold eyes. Empty eyes. Broken eyes. It made Bruce hesitate, but he continued on. He pulled something from behind his back and set it on the table beside Tim. It was a picture of Tim, sitting a pool of blood, surrounded by bodies. Tim, once again, didn’t speak.

Jason hadn’t heard from Tim in a week. He wasn’t worried at first, it wouldn’t be the first time Tim had disappeared for a case, but Tim hasn’t been sighted anywhere. As Red Robin, or Timothy Wayne- Drake. He was worried now. And his gut told him something very, very bad had happened to him.

He went to all of the safehouses he knew of, he called the Teen Titans, he called Conner directly. Nothing. So, he resorted to going to the cave. And what he saw enraged him.

Tim’s costume was on display, just like his. But something told him Tim wasn’t dead. They would have told him if Tim was dead.

Jason found Bruce at the batcomputer, in costume, but with the cowl down.

“Where is Tim?’ Jason demanded, cutting right to the chase. Bruce sighed and turned in the chair to face him.

“You don’t understand-”

“Where. Is. Tim?” Jason growled. It was then that he saw the papers lying on Bruce’s desk, and his face morphed into disbelief.

“You have no idea what you’ve done.” Jason muttered, before his anger returned and he met Bruce’s, cold, dead, blue eyes.

“Say it.” Bruce didn’t. “SAY IT!” Bruce took a step back. Jason took a dangerous and threatening step forwards, “Where is Tim?’

“Arkham.”


	8. Cassandra and Bruce

Cassandra and Bruce never had the closest of relationships in the family, but that didn’t mean they didn’t love each other. And that was proven the day Bruce Wayne died.

It was nothing new. Joker broke out of Arkham and took a gaggle of crazies with him. Bruce insisted to the rest of them that he and Cassandra could handle it by themselves. And they did for the most part, until they didn’t.

It was mostly circumstantial stuff, how the batarang hit the pipe that fell on Bruce, but he dodged the pipe and ran into the wrong end of some psychos knife.

Cassandra plunged a batarang into the guys shoulder and tossed him to the side like a rag doll. She dropped to her knees and placed Bruce’s head in her lap. She quickly assessed the damage, the kevlar stopped a lot of the blade but it still nicked an artery pretty good. He would bleed to death in 10 minutes if someone didn’t get here soon. Cass reached her hand up and activated her com device.

“Bruce injured. 10 minutes. Hurry.” Cass dropped her hand from her ear and removed the cowl. She ran her hands through his hair, humming a tune she’d heard Dick sing before.

“Help is 10 minutes out, keep him alive Cass. Please.” Barbra’s voice finally replied. Cassandra took a deep breath, she reached one of her hands out and put pressure on the wound while the other kept running through Bruce’s hair, and she kept humming the comforting tune.

“Cassandra.” Bruce gasped out, she immediately shushed him, but he continued talking anyways, “If I die- stop, listen to me- if I die, it is not your fault. Do you understand?”

Cassandra cracked the smallest of smiles. Only Bruce would be able to sound scolding while he was slowly dying.

“Okay.” She replied quietly, before returning to humming. “Relax. You will be okay.”

Bruce smiled at his daughter, before his head lolled to one side, his eyes fluttering shut. Cassandra wasted no time in slapping him back in consciousness,

“Awake.” She told him firmly.

“I’m sorry, Cass. I’m just so tired.” Bruce muttered, before his eyes rolled back into his head.

“No. No!” Cassandra screamed, tears building in her eyes. She smacked him again, but his eyes remained close.

“Don’t die on me! Please!” She begged hysterically, as she shook his almost still body.

The realistic part of her knew that he was still breathing, though shallowly, but the emotional part was currently winning.

“Bruce! Wake up! You have to wake up! Please!” Cassandra sobbed, lying her head on his chest, tears streaming down her face and dampening Bruce’s suit.

“Wake up, please wake up, Daddy.” Cassandra muttered into the suit, she felt his breathing slow even more, it had almost completely stopped now.

“No. no, no, no, no.” Cassandra screamed, she scrambled to her knees and began to do CPR. She pumped Bruce’s chest, her tears blurring her vision. (What she didn’t know at the time, was that this action is the reason Bruce is still alive.)

Dick and Tim were around the block with Alfred from the location that Babs had sent them when they heard it. Cassandra’s scream.

It was heartbreaking. Bone chilling. They hadn’t heard a scream like that since Jason died.

It was the scream of death.

Dick was off his bike before it came to a full stop and he sprinted into the abandoned building, Tim and Alfred were not far behind. Tim was carrying enough medical supplies to start a temporary med bay, and hopefully save Bruce.

Dick froze when he saw Cassandra sobbing into Bruce’s unmoving chest. He remained frozen as Alfred rushed past him and too Bruce. He didn’t move when Tim had to pull Cassandra off of Bruce’s body. He didn’t even flinch when Cass collapsed into Tim arms and cried.

Even his mind was frozen, except for one word, which was being chanted over and over again.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no………


End file.
